February 10, 2025

Mr. Leo Terrell, Esq.

Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General

 for Civil Rights

U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20530

Dear Mr. Terrell:

          On behalf of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the oldest pro-Israel organization in the U.S., we congratulate you on your appointment by President Trump to lead his administration’s new Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. Your record of strongly opposing antisemitism and decrying violence against Jews makes you the right person for the position. Both the Task Force, and President Trump’s Executive Order on Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism, are crucial initiatives to tackle these persistent and pervasive problems. We are writing to let you know that we are here to help you in your critical work in any way.

          ZOA has a long history of standing up for Jewish students, enforcing their civil rights, and ensuring that they have the safe and welcoming learning environment that every student deserves: 

• ZOA Campus, our campus department, works directly with students on college campuses across the country. Our campus coordinators are young professionals who were themselves effective advocates for Jewish students and for Israel when they were in college. They help students of all backgrounds connect to Israel with informative and innovative campus programs and speakers. ZOA’s campus coordinators also provide support and resources to Jewish students who face antisemitism and anti-Israelism inside and outside the classroom, often in collaboration with ZOA’s Center for Law and Justice. 

• ZOA’s Center for Law and Justice fights to protect Jewish students’ legal right to a learning environment free from antisemitic harassment and intimidation, including by using Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. As you know, many individuals and groups are also now using Title VI to address the antisemitism that is so pervasive in schools and on campus. It was ZOA that filed the first case of campus antisemitism that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights agreed to investigate under Title VI. And it was ZOA that led the successful battle to ensure that Title VI would be interpreted to protect Jewish students. (President Trump affirmed that protection in his December 2019 Executive Order on Combating Anti-Semitism, which requires all federal agencies that enforce Title VI to protect Jewish students under the law.)

• ZOA’s Government Relations Department, located in Washington, DC, meets regularly with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, to educate them about the serious and surging problem of antisemitism on college campuses and in K-12 schools, and to encourage them to support legislation that will effectively address the problem.

          We are grateful for your commitment to eradicating antisemitism. It is a goal that we share with you. Please know that we are a resource to you in the crucial work you will be doing.

Respectfully,

Morton A. Klein, National President

Susan B. Tuchman, Esq., Director, Center for Law and Justice

Dan Pollak, Director, Government Relations Department

Jonathan Ginsburg, Managing Director, ZOA Campus